Talent
Talents is the collective name for special abilities innate to those who can channel. Talents are innate and cannot be learned, unlike most weaves. All Talents are relatively rare, and some are unpredictable. It appears that certain Talents are more common in certain channeling organizations - for example, far fewer Wise Ones have the Talent to Heal than Aes Sedai, and far fewer Aes Sedai have the Talent known as Cloud Dancing than Windfinders - although the reason for this is unknown. A possibility could be the dwindling number of channelers in general, making the likelihood of innate Talents even smaller. Elayne Trakand considers it a likely option that the Windfinders are extremely skilled Cloud Dancers because of their lifestyle. One of the more commonly known, and most rare, Talents is Foretelling, which causes the channeler to experience trance-like states in which they perceive future or present events. The ability to see ta'veren is also a Talent, as is the ability to enter the World of Dreams (commonly known as dreamwalking or Dreaming) which is more common among the Aiel. A recently discovered Talent allows the channeler to "feel" the effects or intended use of a ter'angreal through simple physical contact. Some of the Talents in this Age are new, such as the Talent to see ta'veren. Many other lost Talents, however, are just now being discovered by the channelers of this Age, such as the Talent of Aligning the Matrix, and the making of ter'angreal and cuendillar. Other Talents *'Aligning the Matrix' - The ability to make metal stronger, allowing for the creation of Power-wrought weapons. Fager Neald rediscovered this Talent. *'Blood Boiling' - The ability to cause another person's blood to boil, killing them. This talent is strongly linked with the Talent of Healing. Rianna Andomeran has this Talent. *'Cardiac Arrest' - The ability to stop another person's heart from beating, killing the person. This talent is closely associated with the Talent of Healing. Chesmal Emry, Cadsuane Melaidhrin, and Siuan Sanche have this Talent. *'Cloud Dancing' - The ability to control and manipulate weather patterns, such as creating storms or wind or clearing the sky to make a sunny day. Atha'an Miere Windfinders call this Talent Weaving the Winds and are specialized in this kind of weaves. Verin Mathwin and Moiraine Damodred both possess this Talent. *'Compulsion' - The ability to influence another person's mind and actions. It is possible to completely erase one's personality and autonomous thought with enough layers of Compulsion. Graendal is said to have an unmatched mastery of this Talent. Verin and Liandrin know a milder form of Compulsion, lesser in strength and effectiveness. In particular, Verin is able to only imprint vague suggestions in the mind of others that are only effective if her victims find a valid reason to follow them, so she must imprint suggestions that are adaptable to the mind of her victims, not ones that are strongly in opposition to their usual thinking. One of the Blue Ajah's secret weaves is believed to be a mild form of Compulsion. *'Delving' - Allows the user to discern a patient's injuries and illnesses. Verin Mathwin believes that she is unsurpassed at Delving. Nynaeve al'Meara also possesses this ability, allowing her to detect intricate weaves of Compulsion placed by Delana Mosalaine and Aran'gar on Lord Ramshalan, which allows Rand al'Thor to discover Graendal's hideout. Nynaeve uses this to detect the madness of Naeff, Jahar Narishma, and Damer Flinn. Her delving skills allowed her to find the emptiness caused from the gentling and stillings of Logain Ablar, Siuan Sanche and Leane Sharif. Another Talent of the same name involves being able to sense and extract ores from the earth without causing disruptions to the landscape. This Talent was lost to modern Aes Sedai, though it has not entirely disappeared amongst the Seanchan. The Talent requires a strong ability in Earth, something rare among women. Egwene al'Vere is an Aes Sedai known to have this ability. *'Earth Singing' - The ability to understand, control and manipulate Earth with more ease and dexterity than usual. This talent is less common among female channelers. *'Air control' - The ability to understand, control and manipulate Air with more ease and dexterity than usual. This talent is less among male channelers. * Flight - Mentioned several times as a talent that was lost during the Breaking. Allows the channeler to fly. Echiko was an Accepted who thought she rediscovered Flying and jumped off the roof of the White Tower and fell to death. Yukiri Haruna thinks gateways in the air could be the path to flying. *'Healing' - The Talent to heal another person of any wounds or ailments. A common Talent amongst Aes Sedai. The old method of Healing used only Air, Spirit, and Water among the Five Powers, drawing its strength from the channeler and the person being healed and unable to focus on a specific ailment or wound, but a new method, discovered independently by Nynaeve al'Meara and Damer Flinn, uses all Five Powers, is able to focused on a specific ailment or wound, and draws its strength from the One Power rather than the individual being healed. Since there are not many channelers with the ability to use all Five Powers proficiently, many still prefer the old method. *'Listening to the Wind' - A term used in the Two Rivers for the skill of foretelling the weather and predicting the abundancy of crops. While all Wisdoms claim to have this skill, it is a manifestation of saidar; and so only those Wisdoms who almost always unknowingly have the ability to channel can actually Listen to the Wind. Nynaeve al'Meara has this Talent that also extends into predicting trouble problems as though they were storms. See also: Wilder. *'Milking Tears' - Unknown function, mentioned by Moghedien during her days in Salidar. It is speculated that this Talent allows a channeler to manipulate the emotions of others, possibly related to Compulsion. *'Reading Residues' - A channeler with this Talent can read the residues in uses of the One Power. Some of this readers can even track and duplicate a weave days after it was woven. For instance, Donalo Sandomere is able to track where a gateway was opened and to reproduce it perfectly to travel there. The only way to leave no trace of a weave is to unpick it, one strand at a time, a Talent known as Unweaving.. *'Spinning Earthfire' - Mentioned, but presumably a weave of destruction. It is speculated that this weave refers to creating lava. *''Ta'veren'' Seeing - Allows the channeler to see ta'veren in a golden light. Although described as even rarer than ta'veren themselves, Logain Ablar, Siuan Sanche and Nicola Treehill all possess it. *'[[Reading ter'angreal|''Ter'angreal, reading]]' - The ability to discern the purpose of a ter'angreal. Aviendha has this talent. *'''Ter'angreal'', making' - The ability to create a ''ter'angreal. Elayne Trakand and several unnamed Seanchan have this Talent. *'Unweaving' - The ability to pick apart a weave so as to leave no evidence of it behind. It is uncommon amongst Aes Sedai and is known to be dangerous to those who try it without the Talent. Aviendha and some Wise Ones are capable of this feat. *'Tie weaves' - In some cases, weaves of the One Power can be tied so their flows will stand for a duration (some weaves can be programmed to stand tied for hours, years, centuries and even millennia such as the ones protecting Callandor in the Stone of Tear). By the description given many times in the books, it seems that not all the channelers are able to tie a weave, so this skill can be considered a personal talent of some of them as in the case of Moiraine Damodred, though it has also been found more common in channelers above a particular strength. *'Fast Learning' - The ability to learn a new weave is often connected to the strength of a channeler. For example it is enough for Rand al'Thor and Alivia to have seen the composing of a new weave only once in order to learn how to reproduce it; for Nynaeve, and Elayne it is enough to see it formed a few times. Alternatively, it may take the weakest channelers years of study in order to learn a new weave. However, there have been weak channelers as Sorilea and Asra that have learned as quick as the strongest channelers. *'Shielding' - The act of blocking someone from the One Power with a weave of Spirit. It is much more difficult to shield someone who is holding the One Power than one who is not unless the person doing the shielding is much stronger in the Power. Berowin, a channeler who is not very strong, is especially talented in Shielding, able to shield both Nynaeve and Elayne at the same time. *'Traveling' and Skimming - The weaves for opening a gateway for Skimming can be learned by all channelers though it is described as one of the most complex weaves known by Pevara Tazanovni. To open a gateway, the channeler requires both strength in the One Power and an innate Talent. As seen by the fact that Damer Flinn, a strong channeler with little talent in Traveling is only able to open gateways smaller and with less precision than would be expected. Talent in Traveling can make up for lack of the Power, as seen in Androl Genhald who is able to open gateways larger and more precise than many of the stronger channelers despite his lack of strength in the Power. See also * Weave * Affinity es:Talento Category:One Power Talents